


5 Times Gibbs and Fornell Helped Morgan and One Time He Helped Them Back

by gigilysrose



Category: Criminal Minds, NCIS
Genre: 5+1 Things, Carl Buford - Freeform, Crossover, Episode: s02e12 Profiler Profiled, Episode: s02e15 Revelations, Episode: s06e09 Dagger, Gibbs' slaps ensue, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sexy Reid, Tobias Hankel - Freeform, criminal minds season 2 spoilers, gibbs and fornell are really protective, ncis season 6 spoilers, so are morgan and reid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 07:49:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gigilysrose/pseuds/gigilysrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What it says on the tin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 Times Gibbs and Fornell Helped Morgan and One Time He Helped Them Back

**Author's Note:**

> 2-4 are set in season 2 of Criminal Minds. The +1 is set in season 6 of NCIS. The timeline might a little off with the lining up of the two series, but I got it as close as I could. Unbeta'd. All mistakes are mine. Comments and concrit are love.

**1) Fornell recommends a club.**

Spencer Reid has been working at the BAU for two months and Morgan thought that he had figured out his coworker, but now he's staring at the lithe doctor moving gracefully to the music with a guy who must be at least twenty years older than him. Morgan is hypnotized by the way the normally awkward doctor is moving as if the song is written for him. Reid looks up and Morgan looks away in hopes of avoiding detection and when he looks up again, he spots Reid and the man walking out the door. He pays for his drink and leaves, mind processing this new information.

 

**2) Fornell makes him realise how he feels.**

After they arrest Carl Buford, Morgan sits as far away from the rest team as possible on the plane ride back. When they get back to the office, he does his paperwork quickly, hoping to get out and go home as soon as possible. As Morgan gets in the elevator, he hears Reid shout after him: “Morgan wait up.” Even though every bone in his body tells him to run, he holds the elevator door.

“Thanks. I know it's late, but I was wondering if you'd want to go out for a drink. I know a great club.” Reid is breathless and a little nervous and Morgan finds it far too endearing.

“Thanks Pretty Boy, but I think I'm going to go home and go to sleep.”

“Please Morgan, just one drink and then you can go home to your bed and your dog.”

Caught off guard, all that Morgan can think of to say is: “How do you know about Clooney?”

Reid merely quirks an eyebrow at him and Morgan relents.

“Fine, but then I'm going home. This case took too much out of me.” He barely hears Reid's whispered “I know.”

 

When they get to the club, Morgan is surprised to see that it's the same one where he discovered that Reid can actually dance, not just flail. After they sit down at the bar and order their drinks, Morgan is about to say something to the young doctor when a guy sidles up next to them. Morgan prepares to tell him to leave when he starts flirting with Reid.

“Mind if I buy you a drink?”

Morgan is dumbstruck. The guy must be at least forty and yet he's still flirting with guys who could be his son. He's even more confused when Reid accepts the drink offer and even seems to know the guy.

“It's been a while since I've seen you around,” Old Guy says.

“I got caught up with work. Besides, couldn't let you get tired of me, now could I?”

Old Guy gets a predatory look in his eye and Morgan has an urge to punch him and tell him to fuck off for looking at _his_ Pretty Boy like that.

“I could never get tired of you, babe. Dance with me?” Reid looks like he's about to accept when he glances at his coworker.

“You know what? Any other night I would, but I'm keeping my friend company after a bad day. Wouldn't want to leave him alone.”

“Not even one dance? I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you kept my lonely soul company for a song. Please, babe?” The man pouts and gives Reid puppy eyes. Reid merely raises his eyebrow.

“Joe, you should know by now that those eyes don't work. Countless have tried and countless have failed.”

Morgan laughs and tells him, “Reid, it's fine. Go dance.”

“You sure?” Reid asks him even as he's being dragged onto the dance floor by Old Guy.

Morgan nods as he nurses his beer, watching Reid dance.

“You have it bad, don't you?” a voice says behind him and Morgan nearly jumps out of his seat. He turns around and sees the last person he'd ever expect to see in a gay bar. Then again, he was the one who recommended it in the first place.

“Agent Fornell?” He's only worked with the agent once and he doesn't know much about him other than if a case to do with the Navy or Marines comes up, he's the guy to call.

“Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. You might want to tone down the eyefucking though if you don't want him to find out. Or make your move if you really do want him as badly as your eyes say you do.”

Before Morgan can reply, Fornell is leaving with two glasses of bourbon. He takes them to a table where a gray-haired man is waiting for him. The profiler smirks when the agent gets slapped on the back of the head after he says something to the other man. When he turns back to find Reid, he sees the doctor pressed tightly against Old Guy as they move to the music. When the song ends, Old Guy whispers something in the younger man's ear and Reid looks over at his coworker and then shakes his head before kissing Old Guy.

“Sorry about that,” Reid says when he makes his way back to the bar after sending Old Guy out in search of another dance partner. “What did Fornell want?”

“He just wanted to say– Wait, how do you know Fornell?”

“He and I met here a while ago and figured out we have a lot more in common than we thought.”

“What, did you sleep with him?” The disdain in the profiler's voice comes out stronger than he meant and he groans internally.

To his surprise, Reid laughs. “No, I'm pretty sure I'd have to flee the planet if his husband ever found out and unfortunately there are no other planets known to modern humans that support our lifeforms. Speaking of which...”

For the next two hours Reid keeps him engaged in conversation and, even though he only drinks one beer, he's relaxed by the end of the night. Fornell and his husband (“Call me Gibbs”) come over at one point and talk about the lack of vacation days when working law enforcement. Morgan's pretty sure he knows why Fornell's the one who gets the Navy and Marine cases, even though his husband never says what branch of law enforcement he's in. The man has former marine written all over him.

When they finally leave the club and Reid drops him off at his place, Morgan tells the younger agent: “Thank you for everything, Reid. I had fun tonight. Maybe we can do it again some time?”

Reid grins at him. “I'd enjoy that. And Morgan? Call me if you need me. Take care of yourself, okay?”

It's the first time that night that the younger agent has even hinted at what happened in Chicago and Morgan is grateful for that.

“I'll do my best, Pretty Boy. Night.”

Morgan gets out of the car and heads up to his apartment, thinking that maybe next time he'll tell Reid how he feels.

 

**3) Morgan gets a wake-up call,** **à** **la Gibbs.**

It's their second outing to the club in as many months and Reid and Morgan are both taking a breather from dancing. Gibbs and Fornell are arguing with them over what sport is the best and Morgan couldn't be happier. That is, until Old Guy (Morgan knows his name but doesn't feel like calling him it) shows up and takes Reid onto the dance floor. The two older agents exchange a look before simultaneously slapping him upside the head.

“Dude, what the hell? Why'd you hit me?”

Gibbs merely quirks an eyebrow just the way Reid does, which has disconcerted him from the first day he met the NCIS agent.

Fornell merely says “You're being way too slow on the uptake. You needed a wake-up call.”

“Okay, first off, don't ever do that again if you want to keep your hands. Second of all–” At the stares he gets from both men, he changes his words. “I'm going.”

He makes his way to where Reid and Old Guy are dancing. “Mind if I cut in?” he asks. When Old Guy looks like he's going to protest, Morgan glares at the man until he goes off into the crowd. Reid quirks an eyebrow at him, but the older agent merely starts moving to the music. Reid smiles and does the same, putting his hands on the older man's hips and drawing them close together. Reid leans in close and whispers: “Finally.”

The last thing that Morgan sees before he kisses the other man is Gibbs and Fornell smirking and toasting each other.

 

**4) Fornell and Gibbs were in the neighbourhood.**

They've been dating for two weeks when Reid is abducted by Tobias Hankel. By the time they get home, Reid has turned in on himself and refuses to speak to anyone, but he goes with Morgan willingly when he tells the doctor that he's not leaving him alone that night. He's just settled Reid into bed and is making a cup of tea when there's a knock on his door. He grabs his gun before answering the door and looks through the peephole. Surprised, he opens the door to see Gibbs and Fornell standing there with coffee and a bag of what Morgan assumes is food.

“We were in the neighbourhood and thought you might want some chicken soup,” Fornell says. “You want to put the gun down? I swear we're not going to attack. Well, I can't speak for him, but I won't.” That earns him a head slap and Morgan smiles despite his exhaustion.

He opens the door and lets Gibbs and Fornell past him.

“Reid is sleeping,” he says as he puts the gun on the table by the couch. “He'll appreciate the soup when he wakes up. If he can stomach it. He hasn't eaten anything since we got him back. He looked so... weak.” Morgan isn't sure if he can stay standing so he sinks down onto the couch while Gibbs and Fornell sit in the chairs across from him.

“I watched him die.” The words are out before he can stop them, but he barely breathed them, so he doesn't think that the other men heard it until Gibbs speaks up.

“And he died. He's going to want to pull away, but you can't let him. You can't let him go, otherwise you're both going to regret it,” the normally reserved man says before looking at his husband. Fornell grabs his hand and looks like he still regrets whatever it was that happened between the two of them.

“You can't take the easiest way out. It'll be tempting, but if you do, there's no going back from that. Mending your relationship will be even harder, especially when you're both stubborn bastards.”

Gibbs' phone goes off at that moment and he stands up to answer it. Fornell watches him for a moment, lost in thought, before abruptly turning towards Morgan and saying: “Don't let him go. Leroy walking out was the worst moment of our relationship and there have been some pretty terrible ones. Be strong, Derek, even if Spencer doesn't want you there.”

“Dead petty officer. Looks like she was involved in some case the FBI's working on,” Gibbs says softly from the door.

“And let me guess: they want me to liaise since I'm the only one who can deal with your stubborn ass?”

“Something like that. Morgan, you call us if you need anything.”

“Yes, Gibbs,” Morgan says, getting up and shaking the other man's hand.

After he lets them out, he goes to the window to check on the neighbourhood, an old habit from Chicago that he never really has bothered giving up. Fornell and Gibbs are stopped at their car and they're gripping each other tightly.

When he walks back to his bedroom, he sees Spencer lying in bed, curled in on himself and a new wave of guilt and pain washes over Morgan. He gets into bed with his lover and curls around him protectively. When the skinnier man relaxes and uncurls and wraps his arms around the other man, Derek finally feels like he can breathe. As they drift off into sleep, Derek knows that somehow they'll work this out. He's just not sure how long it will take.

 

**5) Gibbs and Fornell would do anything for their friends.**

Morgan has realized over the last two years that Jethro and Fornell are fiercely loyal to their friends. They helped him get rid of Old Guy, which turned out to be harder than he had originally thought. Now though, they're helping him with a much less unpleasant but highly more life-changing event for Derek and his boyfriend.

He reaches inside his pocket to feel the small box there and smiles despite his nerves. Over the past few months when so many things have happened to Spencer, the older pair have kept Derek from doing something rash. They even made him keep the ring for two weeks before he actually said anything to Spencer so that he made sure it wasn't a spur of the moment decision. Those two weeks had become two months because of their caseload and Morgan had wanted to find a perfect moment. They were off-duty this weekend, so he had settled on tonight and called in a favor with a friend to get him a reservation at their favorite restaurant.

Now, Gibbs and Fornell are sitting conspicuously at a nearby table so that they can get photos of the happy moment (“Or the rejection” Fornell had pointed out before getting head-slapped by his husband). The profiler was so deep into his thoughts that he didn't notice the doctor approaching until he was right in front of him. He smiled up at his lover and stood up to kiss him, holding him close with their hands entwined between them afterwards.

“Spence, I... Could you sit down?”

“ Sure, Derek. What's going on?” Spencer's brow is creased in worry as he looks at the older man, but he sits down in his chair.

“Spence,” Derek says as he sits down and takes his lover's hands over the table, “I know that we don't say it much, but I love you. When I first saw you, I thought you were just some scrawny kid who was going to get himself killed within the first week, but you've proved me wrong so many times since then. You've become such an amazing man and I feel so lucky to have you by my side. I meant what I said when I told you were a hero, and it would make me immensely happy,” Derek pulls out the ring and kneels in front of his partner, “if you would do me the honor of being my hero.”

For a second, Spencer is incredibly quiet as he stares at Derek, but then he is jumping into his arms and saying “Yes, of course yes. Derek yes” in between kisses before pulling away so that Derek can put the ring on his finger. He vaguely registers the sound of cheering in the background and cameras going off, but right now he doesn't care because he's marrying his hero and he's never letting go.

 

**+1) Morgan is fiercely protective.**

Derek is standing guard outside the hospital room, keeping everyone out until Gibbs is ready. He can hear the former marine grumbling about having to stay in the hospital, telling his husband that he's fine. He hears a smack and Gibbs shouting: “Tobias.”

“Well you're fine, aren't you?” There's a long silence and then “I'm so sorry.”

“Lee was –”

“I know Leroy.”

After that there is a long silence and Derek chances a look inside. Fornell and Gibbs have their eyes closed, foreheards resting against each other as Fornell comforts his husband. As Derek pulls back, a nurse comes up and almost opens the door, but the profiler stops her.

“Sir, you need to let me past. I need to treat the agent's wounds.”

“You can treat them when he's ready.”

The nurse starts to protest, but Derek glares at her until she leaves. Right then Reid comes up to him with coffee and hot cocoa from Gibbs' favorite coffee shop.

“How is he?”

“Physically, he'll be fine pretty quickly. I don't know about how he is mentally. Fornell is in there with him now.”

Reid nods understandingly before handing Morgan his coffee and taking his hot cocoa. He sets the cup holder with the two remaining cups on the table next to the door.

Unconsciously, they've come to rest like sentries on either side of the door, guarding it against all who would dare to enter unbidden. The world is waiting for them to battle with, but there's been enough turmoil tonight. For now, all they need to do is heal. The world can wait a little longer.


End file.
